On October 20th , in commemoration of the founding of the city of La Paz, 469 years ago, the Parliamentary Brigade of La Paz, of the Chamber of Deputies of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia conferred the 'CHUQUIAGO MARKA' award to the ID Madidi team and to Robert Wallace, Director of the Greater Madidi Tambopata Landscape Conservation Program as the leader of the scientific expedition, for their contribution to knowledge and dissemination of the biodiversity of Madidi National Park, the protected area with the highest biological richness in the world.
This award is of great value for science and conservation in Bolivia. It is a recognition of the contribution of protected areas to the protection of the natural and cultural heritage of the country, as well as to human development and wellbeing. It is also an acknowledgment of the capacity, effort and commitment of Bolivian researchers and scientific institutions involved in this project (Wildlife Conservation Society, Institute of Ecology-UMSA, National Herbarium of Bolivia, National Museum of Natural History, Bolivian Fauna Collection, Natural History Museum Alcide d'Orbigny and Armonia Association).
In the 13 sites visited between 2015 and 2017, covering an altitudinal range between 194 and 4,750 meters above sea level, a total of 1,285 new species were registered for Madidi: 396 plants, 600 butterflies and 289 vertebrates, of which 98 are candidates for new species to science. These extraordinary findings far exceed the estimates made at the beginning of the expedition. Additionally, it is important to highlight the results achieved in the dissemination of knowledge on biodiversity to the urban population of Bolivia, and mainly La Paz. The Facebook page has almost 85,000 followers, with an average reach of 150,000 people per publication. Similarly, educational activities have been carried out in 43% of the secondary schools in the cities of La Paz and El Alto.